Magnoliales, the magnolia order of flowering plants, consisting of 5 families, 154 genera, and about 3,000 species. Members of Magnoliales include woody shrubs, climbers, and trees. Along with the orders Laurales, Piperales, and Canellales, Magnoliales forms the magnoliid clade, which is an early evolutionary branch in the angiosperm tree; the clade corresponds to part of the subclass Magnoliidae under the old Cronquist botanical classification system. The families in the order are Annonaceae, Myristicaceae, Magnoliaceae, Degeneriaceae, Eupomatiaceae, and Himantandraceae.

Magnolia (Magnolia fraseri).

Mark Bolton/Corbis

Distribution and abundance

Annonaceae, or the custard apple family, contains about 130 genera and 2,220 species. It includes cherimoya, soursop, ylang-ylang, and lancewood. Members of Annonaceae grow throughout the tropics. They are particularly characteristic of lowland evergreen forests in Asia and Africa. Five of the genera combined contain more than one-third of the species in the family, namely Guatteria (250 species), Uvaria (175 species), Xylopia (150 species), Polyalthia (100 species), and Annona (120 species). Asimina (8 species) is restricted to eastern North America and contains the only temperate-adapted species in the family, A. triloba (pawpaw), which extends as far north as the lower Great Lakes.

Custard apple (Annona reticulata).

Walter Dawn

The next largest families in the order, Myristicaceae, or the nutmeg family, and Magnoliaceae, or the magnolia family, together account for less than 20 percent of the species in Magnoliales. Myristicaceae is a tropical family with members in Central America, the northern half of South America, Central Africa, Asia (including most of India, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines), New Guinea, and northern Queensland, Austl. The largest genus, Myristica (including M. fragrans, the source of nutmeg and mace), has about 175 species.

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

G.R. Roberts

The delimitation of genera in Magnoliaceae has changed, based on molecular studies, to the recognition of just two genera, Magnolia (225 species) and Liriodendron (2 species). Liriodendron (tulip tree) has one species in China and one in the eastern United States. Such a bicentric dispersal suggests a more continuous distribution in the past. Magnolia is widely distributed in temperate and tropical Southeast Asia, from the Himalayas to Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Other species are found in the temperate southeastern United States, Central America, northern South America, and Brazil. Many species of Magnolia are cultivated; Magnolia grandiflora (bull bay, or Southern magnolia), for example, grows in forests from southern Virginia to eastern Texas and extends into the West Indies. Another American species, M. ashei, however, is found only in a few counties in Florida.

Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Karl H. Maslowski

A discussion of the distinctive features of tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Degeneriaceae consists of one genus in Fiji. Degeneria vitiensis, as the species name indicates, was found on Viti Levu, the largest island of the Fijian archipelago. It is a relatively common tree that occurs mostly in upland forests on steep slopes, and it has been used for timber. A second species, D. roseiflora, was described in 1988 on different Fijian islands—namely, Vanua Levu and Taveuni. It is also a fairly common timber tree that differs from the first species in having magenta or pink flowers, smaller fruits, and bark of a different colour.

Degeneria vitiensis.

John M. Miller in National Geographic Research 5(2): 218–231, 1989

Degeneria roseiflora.

John M. Miller in National Geographic Research 5(2): 218–231, 1989

Eupomatiaceae consists of one genus, Eupomatia, with two species. Eupomatia laurina is a common rainforest shrub in New Guinea and Australia, from southern Australia along the eastern coast as far north as tropical Queensland. The other species, Eupomatia bennettii, is much less common and is restricted to Australia, where it occurs near the coastal regions of northern New South Wales and Queensland.

Annonaceae

Timber

Because the family Annonaceae is by far the largest in the Magnoliales order, it is not surprising that this group includes the most species that yield some type of economic product. The wood of many members of Annonaceae is very pliable, and many of the edible fruits have commercial value. Oxandra lanceolata (lancewood), from northern South America and the West Indies, is undoubtedly the most important commercial timber source in this family. The wood is yellow to olive-yellow, hard, heavy, and of fine texture, and it has a very straight grain. These characteristics make the wood suitable for use in scientific instruments, turnery (objects shaped by lathe), tool handles, and such sporting goods as archery bows and fishing rods. Guatteria boyacana (solera, or Colombian lancewood) has most of the same properties and uses, though it is not as well known in the timber trade. Enantia chlorantha (African whitewood), a yellowwood from Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon, produces a sulfurous yellow dye; the wood also is used locally to make unpainted furniture and veneers. Cleistopholis patens (otu) yields a soft, light wood from western Africa that finds some of the same uses as balsa wood—e.g., in buoys, life rafts, and floats. The fibrous inner bark is of some value for cordage and coarse netting. In South America, balsalike wood is obtained from Heteropetalum brasiliense, which grows along “blackwater” streams (swampy rivers stained dark by organic acids) in the upper Orinoco and Río Negro basins of Amazonia.

Polyalthia longifolia is a tall, handsome tree with pendent linear leaves that is cultivated in most parts of Sri Lanka and India as an avenue tree and around temples for its religious significance. Although the wood is not very durable, it is utilized to some extent in making matches, boxes, and packing crates. Other woods of the Annonaceae family in India and Myanmar that have some commercial value are derived from the genera Miliusa, Sageraea, Mitrephora, Saccopetalum, and Cyathocalyx. Because of their tough and elastic qualities, these woods are utilized in the manufacture of tool handles, wheel spokes, and sporting goods.

The wood of Xylopia aethiopica is quite flexible and has some local use in west-central Africa for masts, boat paddles, and rudders. It has been described as termite-proof and, accordingly, is used for house posts and beams. The dried black fruits of this species are called guinea peppers and were once of commercial importance in Europe as a tangy condiment and drug.

Fruit

The most widely known economic products of the Annonaceae family in the tropics are its edible fruits, especially the fruits of the genus Annona (custard apple). One of the most important of these is Annona reticulata (West Indian bullock’s-heart), which is well adapted to hot climates and produces fruit only three years after planting. The common name is suggestive of the round-to-heart-shaped appearance and size of the fruit, which may be up to 12 cm (5 inches) in diameter and length when ripe. When the fruit is ripe and the yellow-brown skin has begun to blacken, its white to cream-coloured pulp becomes sweet and aromatic, and it resembles ice cream when chilled.

Custard apple (Annona reticulata).

Walter Dawn

Annona squamosa (sweetsop, or sugar apple), although native to northern South America, Central America, and the Caribbean region, is even more widely cultivated and highly esteemed in India and Pakistan. The conical fruits break into segments when ripe and expose a cream-coloured sweet pulp in which dark brown glossy seeds are embedded. Among the natives of the tropics, the sugar apple tree is reputed to be of medical value. Tea made from the roots is highly purgative, while that made from the leaves is a mild laxative and is also considered to have a general tonic effect on the digestive tract. Poultices of the leaves are used in dressing infected wounds.

Sweetsop (Annona squamosa).

A-giâu

The cherimoya is the fruit of a rather small tree, Annona cherimola, which is native to the cool (but frost-free) mountain valleys of Peru and Ecuador. Although it is grown in southern Florida, it does not produce fruit well there because of the high humidity; it is currently commercially grown on a small scale in southern California. The fruits, however, are quite perishable and ferment readily. Like the sugar apple, it is now established in the Old World tropics. Although the fruit does not break into segments when ripe the way that the sugar apple does, the flesh is of a more creamy consistency (it contains up to 18 percent sugar) and has fewer seeds. Under ideal conditions, the fruit may attain a large size, weighing up to 7 kg (16 pounds).

Annona muricata (soursop, or guanabana) also is native to the American tropics; it probably originated in Brazil or the Antilles. In a commercial setting, it must be pollinated by hand. The fruit weighs between 1.3 and 3.6 kg (3 to 8 pounds) and reaches 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) in length. It is tapering and heart-shaped, and the green skin is covered with spiny protuberances. The aromatic flesh, white and somewhat fibrous, is strained to make custards and ice cream; the acidulous juice is usually extracted to make a refreshing drink, which has been described as a combination of the flavours of strawberries, pineapples, and cinnamon. The fruit is approximately 12 percent sugar, mostly glucose, and is a good source of niacin, riboflavin, and vitamin C. The black seeds contain toxins that have a purported use locally as a repellent against parasites. The hybrid Annona squamosa × cherimola (atemoya) apparently originated in Central America and the Antilles; the fruit contains some of the best features of both parents. Extracts of the root and leaves have a laxative effect, and poultices of the leaves are used to dress infected wounds. Annona glabra (alligator, or pond, apple) grows plentifully in the Florida Everglades and on the Florida Keys, where its fruits have been described as “edible but not very palatable.” The tree’s prime use in Florida is as a rootstock for A. reticulata and A. squamosa when the soil is deep and sandy.

Other species of Annona that produce comparatively inferior fruit but are eaten locally include A. montana (mountain soursop), from the West Indies and South America; A. longiflora, from Mexico; A. paludosa, from Brazil; A. testudinea, from Honduras; A. nutans, from Paraguay; A. senegalensis, from East and West Africa; and A. diversifolia (ilama), which was first cultivated long ago by the Aztecs of Mexico.

Two species of Rollinia (R. mucosa and R. pulchrinervis) have edible fruits that reach 10 cm (4 inches) in length and bear some resemblance to those of the soursop, except that the spines are softer and more blunt. Rollinia mucosa is a large tree native to the West Indies and northern South America, whereas R. pulchrinervis is native to the Amazon River basin. Both species are referred to by the common name biriba, and both are widely cultivated, particularly throughout Brazil, for their delicious fruits.

Asimina triloba (pawpaw) is native to eastern North America and produces edible fruits of various sizes, colours, and palatabilities. (Carica papaya, or papaya, of the family Caricaceae, is also sometimes known as pawpaw.) Two general types of Asimina triloba have been observed: large, yellow-fruited, highly flavoured, and early-ripening; and relatively small, white-fleshed, mild-flavoured, and late-ripening. A number of selected clones (groups of plants of identical genetic makeup that are vegetative divisions of one plant), propagated by grafting, are cultivated, principally in southern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana (where the yellowish fruits are referred to as Indiana bananas). An alcoholic beverage may be made from the fruit.

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba).

Scott Bauer—ARS/USDA

Chemicals

Cananga odorata (ylang-ylang) ranges from the tropical parts of eastern India through Malaysia to the Philippines. The name of the plant, which means “flower of flowers,” derives from the exceedingly delicate and evanescent fragrance of the yellowish green, bell-shaped flowers. The fragrance is highly valued in the manufacture of perfumes. Ylang-ylang, or cananga, oil is derived by simple distillation from the petals of fully opened flowers. Although the tree blossoms throughout the year, the flowers picked in May or June yield the highest amounts of cananga oil. Long known to the peoples of East Asia, this oil first reached Europe about 1864.

Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata).

Abby Rex—GAP Photos/Getty Images

In the upper Amazon region, Indian tribes use an extract from the tree Unonopsis veneficiorum to tip their poison blowgun darts and arrows; this substance has a similar paralyzing effect on humans and other animals to that caused by curare, which is obtained from the genus Strychnos of the family Loganiaceae.

Myristicaceae

Although many trees in Myristicaceae, or the nutmeg family, reach timber size, the wood is not of much value in world trade. Nevertheless, Dialyanthera otoba (otobo), Iryanthera sagotiana (marakaipo), and Virola koschnyi (banak) from tropical regions of South and Central America, Pycnanthus kombo and Staudtia gabonensis from West African countries, and Myristica irya (chuglum) from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal find local use in the manufacture of furniture, millwork, flooring, and general carpentry.

By far the most important plant in this family is Myristica fragrans, a native of the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in the Indonesian Archipelago but which is now grown in the tropics of both hemispheres. The seeds of M. fragrans are the source of nutmeg and mace. While these spices are still exported from Indonesia, the greatest production today is in the West Indies, principally the island of Grenada.

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

G.R. Roberts

Myristica fragrans is a handsome evergreen with dark leaves that reaches a height of 9 to 18 metres (30 to 60 feet). The small, yellow, fleshy flowers are unisexual, and the plants producing them are dioecious—i.e., the male and female flowers are produced on separate trees. The ripe fruits are golden-yellow and resemble apricots or pears. As the fruits dry out, they split open, revealing a single shiny brown seed covered with a bright red fleshy structure called an aril. Inside the seeds are the kernels, which are the nutmegs of commerce; the aril is the source of mace. The pulverized seed finds much use for seasoning such food items as spiced fruits, sausages, pastries, puddings, and eggnog. Mace is one of the most delicately flavoured spices and is used in making baked goods, pickles, ketchups, and sauces. Nutmeg and mace contain myristicin, a substance poisonous in large amounts. Myristicin is described by some as a hallucinogen. Nutmeg butter is derived from the seeds and is used in ointments and in candles.

Magnoliaceae

Liriodendron tulipifera, the American tulip tree, or tulip poplar, from the family Magnoliaceae, reaches a height of 46 to 60 metres (150 to 200 feet) and a diameter at its base of 3 metres (10 feet). It is widely cultivated in many temperate regions. The durable timber, widely used in the United States, is light yellow to tan (the wood is sometimes called yellow poplar), with a creamy white margin of sapwood. Tulip tree wood is often used as weatherboard siding for houses, and large logs are suited for the manufacture of rotary-cut veneers for cabinetwork and millwork. The wood also has been used to a lesser extent in making paper.

Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Karl H. Maslowski

Magnolia, including Magnolia grandiflora and M. champaca (formerly Michelia champaca), has been used for timber in regions where it grows naturally. The wood of Magnolia grandiflora was once used in the manufacture of venetian blinds because of its uniform texture, hardness, and ability to resist warping. It is in horticulture, however, that Magnoliaceae is best known. Magnolia is a well-known genus of cultivated trees and shrubs, and M. grandiflora is one of the most popular garden varieties. The flowers, leaves, and fruit of M. grandiflora make it one of the most splendid ornamental trees in American forests. Large creamy-white flowers, 15–23 cm (6–9 inches) in diameter when fully open, are borne singly at the ends of branches and surrounded by persistent dark green, leathery leaves. Reddish fruits open to expose dangling scarlet seeds attached by thin threads. M. grandiflora can reach a height of 24–30 metres (80–100 feet) in its natural habitat, which consists of a strip about 160 km (100 miles) wide from North Carolina through northern Florida, along the Gulf Coast to eastern Texas. It is cultivated in almost all temperate regions of the world, and it flowers five to seven years after planting. Another cultivated magnolia native to the United States is the M. acuminata (yellow cucumber tree), which grows in open woods in the Appalachian region, Ozark Mountains, and the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. M. acuminata derives its popular name from its yellow fruit, which is 5 to 7.5 cm (2 to 3 inches) long.

Magnolia (Magnolia fraseri).

Mark Bolton/Corbis

Many of the cultivated magnolias are hybrids. Probably the most widely cultivated of these is Magnolia × soulangeana (saucer magnolia), a spreading deciduous shrub with leaves that measure up to 15–20 cm (6–8 inches) long. Its flowers appear in early spring before the leaves, and this flowering continues after the leaves have developed. The flowers are typically white at their tips, with dark pink staining the bases of the perianth. This hybrid was formed in 1820 by crossing M. denudata with M. liliflora. The cross took place by chance in the garden of a château belonging to Étienne Soulange-Bodin, founder of the National Horticultural Society of France. The stock soon flowered and was purchased by a British nursery that paid 500 guineas for it, a considerable sum in those days. The hybrid is tolerant of most soils and atmospheric pollution. There are now many forms of this hybrid, with flowers ranging from completely white to claret-purple. Another well-known hybrid is Magnolia × veitchii, which was formed by crossing M. campbellii with M. denudata.

Magnolia champaca (champac) is widely cultivated in tropical regions. Although the flowers are not as grandiose as those of many other magnolias and they develop in dense clusters in the axils of leaves rather than singly at the ends of branches, they more than make up for this deficiency by their abundance and extreme fragrance. This tree is a handsome ornamental with evergreen leaves and profuse, highly scented yellow flowers that are the source of champak, an exotic East Indian perfume. In addition, the timber from this species has some local uses in making light furniture and plywood. The champac is supposedly native to India and Myanmar, but it has been in cultivation for so many centuries that its original natural range is difficult to determine.

Champac (Magnolia champaca).

W.H. Hodge

Degeneria and Himantandraceae

Both species of Degeneria (D. vitiensis and D. roseiflora) have been milled for timber, which has been used in building construction and for furniture and veneer. They are too scattered, however, to be deliberately sought for timber. Wood from Galbulimima (family Himantandraceae) has been used in Australia for cabinetmaking. The leaves and bark contain piperidine derivatives, which have narcotic and hallucinogenic effects. In Papua New Guinea, Galbulimima is used in combination with the leaves of Homalomena (family Araceae), which causes violent intoxication followed by sleep with visions and dreams. The wood of Eupomatia laurina is used for furniture making in regions where it grows.

Characteristic morphological features

Magnoliales are woody plants with simple (seldom lobed) leaves and ethereal oil cells in the parenchymatous tissues of the plant body. The ovary is usually placed above the base of the stamens in the flower (hypogynous), and the perianth is well developed. The pollen is typically uniaperturate (sometimes biaperturate or inaperturate), and the seeds have a small embryo and abundant endosperm. Many unspecialized features of the angiosperms can be found in Magnoliales.

Annonaceae

In Annonaceae, the alternate leaves are without stipules and frequently have a characteristic metallic sheen. The fragrant, often pendulous flowers frequently open before all the parts are mature. Flower parts are mostly in threes. Stamens usually have a short, stout filament and a connective that is expanded above the pollen sacs. Pollen is more varied than in any other family of Magnoliales. The fruits are usually berries, which may, as in Annona (custard apples), be fused to form aggregate fruits.

Myristicaceae

Myristicaceae species have unisexual flowers that are usually situated on separate plants. Many trees have a distinctive growth pattern with whorled, almost horizontal, branches. The fruits of nutmeg, the best-known member of the family, are described in the section Economic and ecological importance.

Magnoliaceae

Unlike the other families of Magnoliales, Magnoliaceae species have stipules. These are comparatively large and fall off when the leaf expands, leaving a characteristic scar. Some members of Magnoliaceae are evergreens; most are deciduous trees or shrubs. Liriodendron (tulip tree) has lobed leaves, an unusual feature for Magnoliales. Flowers are mostly bisexual and showy, usually solitary, with a petal-like perianth. Stamens are leaflike, numerous, and spirally arranged. Many spirally arranged free or partly fused carpels are attached to a conelike receptacle. Pollen grains have a single elongated aperture with an exine ranging from structureless to tectate-columellate. The fruit is composed of separate or united carpels, which in most genera split longitudinally to expose the seeds attached by silky threads.

Stipules of the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). Stipules develop at the base of a leaf …

G.R. Roberts, Nelson, New Zealand

Degeneriaceae

The two species in Degeneriaceae (Degeneria vitiensis and D. roseiflora) are large trees and have primitive vessels, single pollen grains with an elongated aperture and a homogenous (structureless) exine, and sterile stamens (staminodes) between the fertile stamens and the central single carpel. The unusual kidney-shaped fruits of Degeneria measure up to 12 cm (almost 5 inches) long; they split open along one side to reveal orange or red seeds embedded in a pulp. The seeds hang down from the open fruit and are dispersed by birds. The embryos have three or four cotyledons, a most unusual feature.

Eupomatiaceae

Members of Eupomatiaceae are shrubs to small trees. Eupomatia laurina reaches heights of up to 5 metres (16 feet). At the other end of the scale, E. bennettii rarely exceeds 50 cm (20 inches). It often has only one leafy shoot, which produces a single flower each year. The flowers lack a perianth but have petal-like staminodes between the stamens and carpels. The stamens are short with broad flat bases; the carpels are fused along the sides and are enclosed by a cup-shaped receptacle, so that only their receptive stigmatic apexes are exposed to the beetles that pollinate them. The carpels are a modified conduplicate type without a style. The pollen of both species is subspheroidal with a bandlike encircling aperture around the middle of the grain. Each fruit is a globose berry consisting of the fused spirally arranged carpels.

Himantandraceae

Himantandraceae consists of a single genus of large trees, Galbulimima (also known as Himantandra). The vessels of the mature wood have simple perforations (a more advanced feature than in Degeneria). The alternate leaves have their lower surfaces covered with characteristic shield-shaped hairs. Flowers are usually solitary, as in Degeneria, and have two unusual leathery sepals that fall off when the flower opens. There are about 7 to 9 petals; the stamens resemble the petals in shape and texture, and the 4 pollen sacs are restricted to the lowermost part of the stamen, an unusual feature. The 6–10 spirally arranged carpels, with 1 (or, rarely, 2) ovule, fuse to form a globe-shaped, fleshy fruit.

Evolution

Many botanists used to regard Magnoliales as the most primitive extantangiosperm order. A number of structural features were used to support this hypothesis: flowers with numerous spirally arranged free parts on an elongated floral axis; frequently broad stamens (male), with pollen sacs embedded in their surfaces; carpels (female) that may be only slightly modified from a leaflike structure; pollen grains that usually have a single germination groove; and seeds containing a small embryo surrounded by abundant, food-rich endosperm. Molecular evidence, however, has placed other groups as more basal in the angiosperm tree, but the order is nonetheless considered basal among the flowering plants.